Photographer Chimps DSLR, Misses Crazy Kickball Moment

Digital photography can be incredibly empowering, but it can also help new photographers develop some really bad habits. And one of the oft-cited habits that digital photographers develop is “chimping.”

Chimping, for those who aren’t familiar with popular photography jargon, is the act of looking at your camera’s LCD over and over again after every photo you take to see what you got. It can distract you from your subject at hand and cause you to miss something while you’re looking down at your screen… as this video plainly (and painfully) demonstrates:

Or, if you prefer GIF form:

Did you get the shot you were hoping for? Is it in focus? Is this the image that will go viral and earn you a spot with National Geographic? These are all valid questions, but you won’t be able to answer any of them by looking at your SOOC image on a tiny LCD while there’s still action happening.

Focus on taking pictures and wait until you get home to look through the results. You never know what you might miss if you go chimping…